Autotruck loader



c. CrATKlNSON. AUTOTRUCK LOADERV APPLICATION FILED JUNE 30, 1920.

Patented Apr. 4, 1922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

v (yd/15 C. C. ATKINSON. AUTOT'RUCKLOADERL APPLICATION FILED'JUNE 30.1920.

1,411,829. 1 PatehtedApn4, 1922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

anon Woe CZara fiaiwam 4 iii) (LHARLES 13. ATKETTSUIT, F IJITAMT,FLURTDA Specification of Letters Patent.

AUTQTR'UGK IIGADEE.

itaatenteo1 APR, i 1922..

Application filed June 30, 1920. Serial lilou 393,1tl3.

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that l, CHARLns C. ATKIN- soN, acitizen of the United States, residing at Miami in. the county of Dacleand State of Florida, have invented new and useful Improvements inAutotruch Loaders, of

. which the following is a spwification.

This invention relates to an improvecl loading device for motor trucksand is especially designed for loading; logs and heavy articles ofsimilar shape, although it is also applicable to heavy loading ingeneral.

The primary object of the invention is'to proviole a mechanism of simpleand economical construction that can he driven from the engine the motorvehicle and 'erably driven from a, shaft actueteol by the engine of themotor vehicle through transmission inechanisrn. WlllCll affords itforward and a reverse motion for driving the re spective clrums- NovelInechanisinis also provided for guiding and supporting the cables. I

Reference is med-e in the following specification theaccompanying'clrewings illustrative of the PZ'QTEKTQCl embodiment of myinvention, and in Which Figure l is s top plan view of t e frame of 2Lmotor vehicle having my invention epplieol, l to;

Figure F2 is a transverse seetion on the line Qr-Q of l igute showing elog in the loading operation;

Figure 3 'is a perspective view the meehaniszn 'i or controlling ftransmission i s tw i JL l ulu H rovns one Moore 0 18 a. so (lrumsshowing the sum on The numeral 1U motor t uck navin onceahn steeringWheel one 01"" the ve between the frame oi a ocly 10'" the usual eengine the usual associated there (H a linl: 4-2 hevin with the sparkand throttle controls 13 and 14. The numeral 15 designates the driversseat. The engine of the vehicle drives through the main clutch (notshown the main drive shaft 16 to the transmission mechanism 17 anddifferential 18 mounted on the rearvanle. Tn the illustrated form of myinvention the. trensmissionmechanism 17 is shown as mountecl on the rearaxle housing snot in this case the drive for t e loading mechanism istaken'direetly from the main shaft 16 by means of the sprocket Wheel 19secured thereto, and a sprocket Wheel 20 secured to a counter-shalt 21ot an auxiliary transmission mechanism A sprocket chain 22 connects thetwo sprocket wheels 19 and 20. Gear 23 end pin- 1on iZ l-sre alsosecured the countershatt- 21 1n spaced. relation and intermediate thetransverse supporting trame members 25 and so, which ere secured to theside mem-v hers ot the truck frame. The counterehatt 2i antlnn auxiliaryshaft 27 are rotatably mounted on these trensvense trainemem bers 25 andild toy means of detachable hearing plates 28 and 29; An idler pinion 30is ,mounted on the stnh shaft 31, which is supend the gear is acle-pteclto meslifvrith the idler wheel 30 in orcler to drive the shaft 2'? in areverse direction, it loeing iinclerstoocl that the position of the gearset intermeoiate 0:? the 24 and idler 30 will give e neu-i trail ornontriving relation. The gear set is shittecl these vsrious positions offor vvarcl, neutral reverse by oi a forlzecl member 3' opted to engageWithin the groove the gear 35.

The memh Which-is shifta 39 L0 detechsh J to the transverse members and26. The rod 38 is connectecl to the transverse shaft 41 journsllecl ohearings secured to the side members e frame 10., by means i a to '23portion einhracing theirocl 38 an aclap'tec o engage the heaol formed onone end of the reel arm 4A- secorecl shaft a link which udiinellyinhearings ecured to e'r'ocl 38 secured respectively is pivotallysecuredto the arm 44 and. link 42. An operating arm 46 is secured to one end ofthe transverse shaft 41 and is connected at its opposite end to apivoted control lever 47 by means of the rod 48.

Two drums designated respectively as 50 and 51 are rotatably mounted ona cylindrical extension of the auxiliary shaft 27.

The drums are formed with end flanged portions 52 and52, the portion 52having a ratchet wheel 53 detachably secured there to by means offastening devices 54. A collar 55 is keyed to the shaft 27 adjacent tothe flanged portion 52 and ratchet pawls 56 are pivotally mountedthereon by means of the pivot pins 57. Springs 58 secured at one end tothe collar 55 are adapted to bear against the pawls 56 in order tomaintain" them in engagement with the teeth of the ratchet wheel 53. Thecollar 55 cooperating with the flanged portion 52 of the drum. 51 issimilar to the collar 55 previously described and is keyed to the shaft27, but

the pawls 56' are pivoted thereto so as to operatively engage theoppositely disposed teeth of the ratchet wheel 53, detachably secured tothe flange portion 52'. From. this ratchet construction it will beapparent that one drum will be rotated when the shaft rotates in onedirection. while the remaining drum will be rotated :when the shaftmoves in the reverse direction.

A cable 60 is wound upon the drum 56 in such direction that the rotationof the drum from the shaft 27 will result in the further winding of thecable on the drum.

A cable 61 is wound upon the drum 51 in such direction that the rotationof said drum through the auxiliary shaft will result in this cable beingwound upon the drum. In other words the cables and 61 are wound on theirrespective drums in opposite direc-. tions; In order to guide the cable60 so that it may exert a pullin the desired direction.

the projecting portions being provided'with,

aligning apertures for receiving the thread ed ends of the reinforcingrod 69'." A nut 70 secured to the upper threaded end ofsthe rod and anut 71 secured to the lower thread ed end of the rod maintain saidrodinposition. A tie rod 72 is made in sections adjustably connectedtogether by means of turn buckle 73. One of the apertured ends of thetie rod 72 is interposed. on the rod 69 between the nut 71 and the armof the angle plate-68. The other end of the tie rod is secured to thechannel frame 10 of the truck by suitable fastening devices 74. It willbe noted that the cable 60 passes over sheaves 62 and 64k and the freeend of the cable is provided with a hook 75 whereby a loop may be formedin one end of the cable for engaging the lo or other object to beloaded. The block %6 preferably in form of a wedge is driven betweenthebracket 66, and the reinforcing rod 69 in order to maintain said-rodunder tension. The pull on the cable 60 and tierod 72 is such as toexert a tensile stress which is resisted by 'the beam and the rod 69.The log 77 is adapted to slide on spaced skids 78'supported by means ofinclined posts 80 inserted within the tapered' brackets 81. As shown inthe drawings both of the brackets 81 are carried by the frame of thetruck. However, it will be understood that one or'both of said bracketsmay be carried by the frameof a trailer indicatedby the dotted lines 82in Fig. 1. Ufcourse when the loading operation is first startedthe skids78 may rest directly upon the body of the truck, but as the load cm thetruck increases in height the post 86 may be utilized for liftin one endof the slrids to the desired height. 7 g hen the vehicle is in motionthe brackets 66 and 81 are used to support the ordinary staves whiehretain the load upon the body of the vehicle. 1

In operation. thetransmission mechanism of the vehicle is first placedin neutral position, the main clutch bein in driving position so thatthe engine 0 the vehicle may drive the main shaft 16, but the motion Ithereof is not communicated to the rear wheels 83 of the trucln. Motionis transmitted from the shaft 16 to the counter-shaft 21 by means of thesprocket chain 22 and namely. gear 23, idler dfland pinion 34. The 1gear set 34 and 35 may also be placed in neutral position in which casenofmotion will he communicatedfrom the. counter-shaft 21 to the shaft27-. i

Assume that theear set is in the neutral position as aboveescribed.,1The free end of the cable 60] is then pulled so that thecable will unwind from the drum'50 and a loop is formed around a log?!as shown in Figure 23. The gear 35 is then shifted so as to engagepinion 2a and drive the shaft 27 and drum In a forward direction, whichresults in windingflthe cable 60 on the drum 50 and drawing the log77 upthe skids 78 and into the body of the vehicle. While this operation iscontinuing the free end. of: the cable 61 drawn so asto unwind the samefrom the drum 51 and attached to the log next to be loaded. It will beseen that this method of operation affords an almost continuous loadingoperation. WVhen the log 77 has been loaded on the vehicle the gear set34 and 35 is shifted so as to engage the pinion 77 and drive the drum 51in a reverse direction, which results in the winding of cable 61 uponthe drum and theloading of a second log. While this second log is beingloaded the free end of the cable 60 is detached from the log 77originallv loaded and attached to the third log and so, until theloading of the vehicle is completed.

This invention has been described in connection with a motor vehiclehaving the transmission mechanism mounted on the rear axle. However, itwill be understood that it is equally adapted to motor vehiclesutilizing the unit power plant, or having the transmission mechanismlocated near the center of the vehicle, In such cases, however, thedriving mechanism 22 will be modified accordingly and preferably thedrive will be taken from the jack shaft which is ordinarily provided inthe transmission mechanism of modern motor trucks for actuatingauxiliary mechanisms such as a loading device. Other modifications mayalso become apparent to thoseskilled in the art to which this inventionappertains, but all variations in the details of construction of myinvention which do not depart from the spirit or'scope of the appendedclaims are included within the purview thereof.

I claim:

1. The combination with a truck having a frame with a motor mountedtherein, of a log loading device, skids for guiding the logs during theloading operation, means for supporting one end of said skids on thetruck frame, cables for engaging logs to be successively loaded, a drumfor each of said cables, and means driven by said motor for selectivelyactuating said drums in opposite directions.

2. The combination with a truck having a frame with a motor mountedtherein, an auxiliary shaft mounted in said frame having a drum mountedthereon, a sheave pivoted to a side member of said frame, a bracketsecured to said frame, a beam mounted in said bracket, a sheave pivotedto one end of said beam, a tie rod connecting the other end of said beamto said frame, a cable passing over said sheave and wound on said drumand means'for driving said auxiliary shaft and drum from said motor.

3. In combination with the frame of a motor truck, a bracket securedtosaid frame, a beam supported in said bracket, angle plates secured toeach end of said beam having aligning apertures formed therein, areinforcing rod passing through said apertures in spaced relation to thebracket, a block interposed between said bracket and rod, a tie rodsecured to one of said angle plates and the frame, a sheave pivoted'tothe other of said angle plates, a cable passing over said sheave, saidsheave and tie rod exerting forces on said angle plates ten ding'toplace tension on said reinforcing rod, a drum for winding said cable,and mechanism actuated by the engine of the motor truck for rotatingsaid drum.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

CHARLES C. ATKINSON.

i-nesses:

LILBURN R. BAILEY, MARTHA NIXON.

